Microsoft reportedly bringing Xbox and PC games to the iPhone

Microsoft is reportedly planning on bringing a number of Xbox and PC titles to the iPhone starting later this year. According to a report on Reuters, Microsoft is collaborating with Japanese developer Klab Inc. in order to bring these games to their competitor's platforms.

Through a licensing deal, Klab will bring Microsoft's Xbox and Windows-based computer games to the iPhone and smartphones using Google Inc's Android operating system, according to the Nikkei.

Age of Empires, a popular strategy game, is set to be the first title for iPhone, launching by the end of fiscal year 2013 as a free-to-play title. Other titles bound for the iPhone have yet to be announced.

There's quite a bit that this announcement doesn't tell us. For instance, it's not clear if these games will be made available to tablets, or if they are exclusive to phones initially. We also don't know how old these games are, whether or not "Xbox" means the first Xbox, the 360, or perhaps both. Will Age of Empires be a port of an older title, or a completely new version of the game? Will we be seeing a Gears of War game on the iPhone in short order? Or, maybe Halo: Spartan Assault will come to iOS sooner rather than later.

What Microsoft games would you like to see come to iOS? Let us know below in the comments.

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Reader comments

Microsoft reportedly bringing Xbox and PC games to the iPhone

I've never really been an Xbox fan, so I don't have any games in mind. However, this is BIG news for gaming fans. It's high time that the open minds of consumers are rubbing off on Microsoft. Personally, I'd be more excited for Nintendo to bless us with their games on iOS but a win is a win, right? As long as Microsoft puts some tlc in their iOS games, I'll buy whatever they put out!

It would be completely awesome if Microsoft would allow Gears of War and Mini Ninjas to be part of the Ipad App Store! just awesome. I would definitely Buy Those titles!! Those are mostly the reason why we bought the xbox 360 in the first place.

There was a game on the Zune HD which I admit to having at it's EOL and is available on XBox Live: Hexic. This is a neat puzzle game that I always thought should have come to the iOS eco-system earlier and might just be the first game they release. Here is the Wiki entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hexic.